DISRUPT Festival Brings Inaugural Event To Hartford With Sleeping With Sirens, The Used

Amid the rise of eclectic summer music festivals and the finale of the Vans Warped Tour in 2018, it was time for a new heavy rock-based cross-country festival to emerge. And thus: DISRUPT was born.

Rockstar Energy Drink DISRUPT Festival, presented by Live Nation and SGE, kicked-off last month and will continue throughout late July. Last night, the festival stopped at Hartford, Connecticut’s XFINITY Theatre. Warped Tour junkies and tattoo enthusiasts sporting punk-rock attire roamed the festival grounds, heading back and forth between the “Main” and “Festival” stages. In an attempt to avoid conflicting set times, only one band performed at a time.

The festival started later in the afternoon, kicking things off with punk-rapper Hyro The Hero, soloist Juliet Simms, and pop-punkers of Trophy Eyes. Heavier groups like metalcore bands Memphis May Fire and Four Year Strong performed next, setting the scene for one of the more anticipated acts of the day: Sleeping With Sirens.

While SWS are Warped-veterans, and often bring in a strong crowd with their countless early 2000’s hits, the group only played for half an hour. Frontman Kellin Quinn took the stage with a softer tone, starting off with 2015’s “Kick Me” and continued with “Better Off Dead.” Quinn danced around, tossing his bleach-blonde hair back and forth as he echoed the familiar chorus of With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear‘s smash-hit track “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn” as the crowd sang the chorus back in unison.

Quinn shared that their final song is a toast to “anyone who’s ever been stuck in a bad relationship.” He then broke out into the band’s top track: Let’s Cheers To This‘ “If You Can’t Hang.” Just before the final hook of the song, Quinn stopped for a moment, asking the crowd to hold their hands up and let a fan take his first crowd-surf as he belted out the last screams.

The night continued inside of XFINITY’s arena with alt-metal group Atreyu, who performed a metal cover of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name,” and alt-rock’s Circa Survive, best-known for “The Difference Between Medicine and Poison Is in the Dose.” The Story So Far, who are touring in support of their latest record Proper Dose, also made an appearance at the fest. During their set, they played a few tracks off of their new LP, including the energy-driven single “Out Of It” and fan-favorite “Keep This Up.”

While lead vocalist Parker Cannon stood still for most of the set, the crowd was able to relish in his lyrics, rather than focusing on the group jumping around on the stage. It was evident that they belonged in a more club-like setting, but fans still head-banged to “Nerve” from their 2015 self-titled, as well as the catchy tune “Heavy Gloom.”

Headliners The Used, known for their heavy screams and emo nature, united fans with early 2000’s hits like their self-titled tracks “The Taste of Ink” and “A Box Full of Sharp Objects,” along with In Love and Death‘s “All That I’ve Got” and “I Caught Fire.” Post-hardcore group Thrice closed-out the show as the sun was long-gone, performing older songs “The Artist In The Ambulance” and “Under A Killing Moon” before wrapping-up with 2016’s soft, grungey hit “Black Honey.”

Despite the festival being dubbed a hard-rock event, it proved to be very chill. It was eerily-calm, with small crowds and short lines under the sticky heat. While it’s hard to not compare it to Warped Tour, I think it’s important to note that DISRUPT is attempting to stand on its own, and fans have to keep turning out for rock-based festivals like this to keep the summer head-banging events alive.

DISRUPT will stop next in Clarkston, Missouri. Grab tickets here.